Primal seduction!

No, not that kind!

I've never said the word "primal" to my family. The only criticism of grains they've ever heard from me is that they are a lot of calories for not very much nutrition. Last July I just started cooking more and more dinners that were primal. If they really wanted something that traditionally included rice or pasta or something like that, I made it and just didn't eat the grain, without saying anything except my lots of calories, little nutrition bit. I didn't want to weird them out with spaghetti squash or cauliflower rice. I wanted the food to seem better than what they were used to, not like some sad substitute was being foisted on them.

So last night I made lamb stew and a little side of couscous, because that's how we had had it in the past. After finishing, DH (a lifelong veggie skeptic) asks, "Do you think next time you could add some more veggies, like maybe some mushrooms or eggplant? And maybe just skip the couscous? It's pretty meh compared to everything else in there."

I took the last of the couscous in the pantry and sprinkled it on the compost pile this morning.

Nice work! I sort of do this on holidays with my parents. They had no idea vegetables can be oven roasted.

Unfortunately junk food has a serious palate-blunting effect on some people. I have a few friends with such a narrow menu (1 favorite soda, 1 favorite cracker, and so forth)--when we do a potluck they simply cannot stomach anyone's sneaky whole food offerings. No barcode = panic attack.